Denise Nicholas

Claim to fame: Denise Nicholas starred as teacher Liz McIntyre in Room 222 from 1969 to 1974 for which she was twice nominated for Golden Globes.

Where are they now? After Room 222 was cancelled, Denise Nicholas had a string of roles in film comedies with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. She later played feisty councilwoman Harriet DeLong on the TV series “In The Heat of the Night,” a role explored one of the first interracial relationships on prime time when DeLong became the on-screen love interest of Carroll O’Connor’s character Police Chief Bill Gillespie. She also wrote the scripts for six of the series’ episodes and a two-hour “Heat of the Night” TV movie. Now 61, Denise Nicholas recently published her first novel called “Freshwater Road,” about an African-American woman who travels to the south to challenge segregation during the Freedom Summer of 1964.